Car-door lock.



Attorneys Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

ll/HlllllllllilllIIIHHIU W. M. LEWIS. GAR D0013. LOOK.

APPLICATION FILED [A115, 1911.

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l-HlA ll/VlXll-y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. LEWIS, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNCB 01' one-11m TO'dI-AYTON' 'A.

BROOK, OF PINNEBS POINT, VIRGINIA.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1912.

Application filed Iarch 15, 1911. Serial No. 614,616.

- To all whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. Lnwrs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Car-Door Look, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to car door locks of that class which are controlled by the air brake; and the object of the same is to provide means whereby the engineer when he has coupled up with a freight car to be taken ofi a siding can look its doors in the act of testing his air in the air-brake system as. is commonly done at the present time. This object is accomplished by the construction hereinafter more fully de scribed and claimed, and as shown in the accompanying drawings wherein.-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion 1 of a freight-car with my improved look attached to its door which latter is shown closed and locked. Fig. 2 is an enlarged Section through .the air-controlled lock for this door. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section in detail through another lock which 'I preferably provide near the rear edge of the door. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, on an enlarged scale and parts thereof being broken away.

In the drawings the letter F designates a freight car having the usual side door D hung on wheels W which travel on an overheadtrack T. According to the prevailing custom railroad companies'do not holdv themselves responsible for the contents of a freight car when it is run onto a private s1d ing and turned over ,to the consignee, nor do they assume responsibility for the contents of a car which has been loaded by private effort and left on a siding, until they back an engine or train onto said siding and attach it thereto. Accordingly their responsibility commences at the moment the car is attached to the engine or train and ceases at the moment it is detached, and as the airbrake system is connected or disconnected with the car at these times respectively, it will be clear that any locking mechanism which is controlled by the pressure of air nects with this car in the main line will automatically lock or unlock the door of the car when the car is coupled or uncoupled to another car for the purpose of shifting-the responsibility of the 56 contents of the car to and from the company operating the train.

Pivoted to the door D at the point 5 is a latch 6 resting on a stop 7 when it stands horizontal and having a notch 8 in its up-' 6 per side near its outer end as seen in Fig. 1, and 9 is a hook hung on the door and adapted to engage a pin 10 on said latch at times when the latter is swung up around its pivot 5 and thrown out of position where its tip 6 would project beyond the free edge of the door D and might be broken off in loading or unloading the car. Mounted on the door frame adjacent the edge of the door D is a cylinder 11 whose upper end is connected to i a pipe 12 which leads in any suitable ,way (through a valve a) to the main line 13 of the air brake system, and within the cylinder moves a piston whose rod 16 at its lower end carries a flattened member 17 normally raised by a spring 15 but capable of being borne downward by the piston into engagement with the notch 8 in the latch .6. In order that these elements may not be tampered with, the entire. cylinder is preferably inclosed within a casing 18 having a hole 19 in one side through which'the tip of the latch moves as the door is closed.

From this description it will be clear that when the shipper loads the car he cannot lock the door even though he pushes it closed, although the act of doing so pro jects the latch through the hole 19 as seen in Fig. 1; but as soon as the engine con- (either direct or throughout .a long train) and the engineer tests his air, the air pressure in the main line pipe against the tension of the spring 15 so that its flattened lower end 17 is engaged with the notch 18 in the latch and therefore the door is locked closed. Furthermore it will remain locked closed so long as the air-brake system is intact. and if by accident.the car should become detached from the rear end of the train as sometimes occurs, the air system is broken and warning is given to the engineer at once. It often occurs, however,

that the L railroad company after having hauled the car and before it is delivered to the consignee must uncouple it from the train and side track it somewhere, perhaps in its own yard, and therefore must tempo-,

the door with a second lock shown toward.

the right in Fig. 1 and in Fig. 3. This consists of a latch 20 pivoted at 21 to the side of the car and havmg a notch 28 in its free end, which notch is adapted to engage beneath a stop 27 secured upon the door when the free end of the latch vis raised. For so raising its free end I provide a screw 26 taking through a nut 24 carried by the side of the car and directed upward under the tip .of the latch, and the shank .of the screw extends downward below the nut and turns freely within a cylindrical casing or guard 22, its lower extremity '23 being squared for the reception of a key (not shown) by which it may be turned. When so turned in the proper direction, the screw passes upward through the nut 24 and raises the-tippf the latch into engagement with the stop 27 as shown in Fig. 3, and obviously when the key is turned in the opposite direction the screw is withdrawn from the nut so as to permit the free end of the latch to descend out of engagement with the stop. I do not wish to confine myself to this precise type of lock, but I do consider'it essential that the latch 20 shall be pivoted at 21 to the side of the car F at some distance remote from the door D so that the latter can be run back to uncover thedoor opening and permit the shipper to load the car. After he has done so and pushes the car door shut, although he cannot set the lock which is controlled by the air-brake system as above described, if he be provided with the proper key he can set the .lock last just described, and this is sometimes of great benefit to him in case he resides at a remote point or in case it will be some considerable 4 time before the freight train shall couple up with the car and meanwhile he desires to protect his goods until the railroad company assumes responsibility for them. Itv be that he is several days loading the car,

- and at night he looks its doors in this way.

vso

But the presence of this kind of a latch 20 (without respect as to whether the described key is used or not) requires him: to close the door before he can lock it and therefore requires that the latch 6 shall be projected through the hole 19 under the lockmg end 17 of the air-controlled rod 16, at

v valuable freight and may 1,016,886 I s r Y the same time that he closes the door to the position necessary to permit him to lock it himself. Hence I consider this something more than mere duplication, especially when the two locks are used upon a slidmg car door, and yet neither is in the way when the car is to be loaded or unloaded. I

I donot limit myself to the precise details of construction or to the materials and proportions of parts. I might add. that in the case/of a local freight train, perhaps one having at least one car carryin very resided over y an agent in charge, the air must be cut ofi on the inside of the car when a shipper is loading, for otherwise the air pressure will hold the lock closed. This can be done in any suitable way, as for instance by the va ve a which I have indicated in Fig. 2 as occupying a. position near the top of the car. Its location, pipes, and manner of operation a're.of course matters of no importance; and the experienced railroad man understands the uses of this-valve and the best point to place it.

between the cylinder and the air-brake system.

2. A freight car, a sliding door therefor, a latch pivoted to the door with its free end projecting beyond the free edge of the door and havin a notch in its upper side, a rod having a attened end to engage the notch in the latch, a piston at the upper end of said rod, a cylinder 'within which the piston moves, connections between the upper end of the cylinder and the air-brake system, and a spring for holding the rod normally elevated and disengaged with the notch in the late 3. A freight car, a sliding door therefor a latch pivoted to the door with its free en projecting normally beyond the free edge of the door and having a notch, a pin on the latch, a hook on the door so disposed that when engaged with saidpin the free end of the latch is prevented from S i ing beyond the edgeof the door, a ro w ose within which the piston moves, and connections'between the cylinder and the air- I brake system.

4. A freight car, a sliding door therefor a latch pivoted to the door withits free end projectingbeyond the free edge of the door and having a notch, a rod having a lockin end to engagethe notch in the latch, a piston on the rod, a cylinder within which the as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signagiston anoyles, COILIIBitiOHS betweendthe cylinture in the presence of two witnesses. er an t e airra e system, an a casin inclosing the cylinder and having a hol WILLIAM LEWIS 5 through which the tip of the latch is pro- Witnesses:

jected as the door is closed. A. J. BOWMAN,

In testimony that I ,claim the foregoing CHAS. E. TRAVERS. 

